NC State ‘Cardiac Pack’ team adds TV broadcasters as defendants in NCAA NIL lawsuit
Two television giants were added to the 1983 NCAA champion N.C. State basketball team’s name, image and likeness lawsuit against the NCAA. The amended complaint was filed last week in Wake County.
CBS Sports, CBS Broadcasting, Turner Sports Interactive and TNT Sports are listed as additional defendants in the lawsuit, alongside the NCAA. The Collegiate Licensing Company was removed as a defendant. The plaintiffs demand a jury trial.
“The NCAA’s illegal profit scheme is carried out through various partners and co-conspirators, including without limitation CBS Sports, CBS Broadcasting, TNT Sports, and Turner Sports Interactive,” the amended complaint states.
The News & Observer contacted multiple representatives from CBS and Turner Broadcasting for comment but received no response.
The lawsuit filed in June by members of the team, known as the Cardiac Pack, stated the NCAA used images and videos of the team without permission to market the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament and for other commercial uses. It cites the 2021 Supreme Court antitrust case against the NCAA for the basis of its lawsuit.
N.C. State won the 1983 national championship and earned its “Cardiac Pack” nickname after winning the ACC Tournament and six NCAA Tournament games, including a 54-52 upset win over Houston in the championship game on Lorenzo Charles’ buzzer-beating dunk. The play is regularly replayed during the tournament. Charles died in 2011.
The amended complaint also added Martha Lou Mobley as a plaintiff. She serves as the administrator for Quinton Leonard’s estate.
Plaintiffs in the case are now Thurl Bailey, Alvin Battle, Walt Densmore, Tommy DiNardo, Terry Gannon, George McClain, Mobley, Cozell McQueen, Walter Proctor, Harold Thompson and Mike Warren.
The updated complaint mistakenly listed Ernie Myers as an additional plaintiff, but he remains uninvolved. Sidney Lowe and Dereck Whittenburg are also not named, but “everyone was part of this decision,” Warren told the News & Observer in June.
Warren said the team, which remains close, discussed the possibility of legal action for many years. The changes in collegiate athletics, with athletes able to draw income from NIL deals while soon being allowed to get a share of the schools’ athletics revenue, made the lawsuit applicable now.
The suit says March Madness generates $1 billion in revenue annually and $20 million in broadcast rights in the next decade. The plaintiffs say the NCAA website’s use of videos from the team’s postseason run only play after advertisements and the NCAA has “never paid one cent” to them.
“Plaintiffs now seek reasonable compensation for the appropriation of their names, images, and likenesses by the NCAA and its partners and co-conspirators,” the lawsuit states.
This story was originally published August 27, 2024 at 2:47 PM with the headline "NC State ‘Cardiac Pack’ team adds TV broadcasters as defendants in NCAA NIL lawsuit."
